In the early afternoon of 4 September 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the heart by a stingray barb off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia while filming an underwater documentary with his daughter.

Shortly after 11:00 a.m. local time (01:00 UTC), Irwin was filming in the Low Isles near Port Douglas, north of Cairns, Queensland, Australia, where he was stabbed in the chest, resulting in a punctured heart, and suffered cardiac arrest. After he was stung, his crew called for medical help and the Queensland Rescue Helicopter responded, taking him to Cairns Base Hospital. However, Irwin was immediately pronounced dead at the scene. The Queensland Police Service notified his family and released a statement for the media concerning the event. Ironically Irwin was known for handling dangerous animals, but stingrays rarely attack humans.

I was trying to tell my daughter about him passing away and was trying to describe who he was when she said " Mom that was the guy who used to say Crikey all the time " and i said yes. She is 9 and she not only saw him on his own shows but as a guest on many many other kids shows.

I feel very sorry for his own children for they are so young that they will never really know what an inspiration he was to many.

Today the world suffered an amazing lose. But he passed away doing what he loved best in the world.

He wasn't my idol, but damn, I grew up on The Discovery Channel back when The Animal Planet never existed. However, naturalists like him and Jeff Corwin made learning about nature more interesting than any one else.

If he was stung in a non-vital body area (arm, leg, hand, etc) he would have easily lived though been in terrible pain for quite some time. So so sad